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The Night I Missed History

As most every knows by know who is a regular reader of this blog that I’m staying with a host family for the summer while I do my internship. Well, tonight, Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 was the night that one of their daughters had her graduation party.

June 3rd, 2008 was also the night that that good ol’ Senator from Illinois with a funny name, Barack Obama effectively became the first African American party nominee for the President of the United States of America.

Yes, Michelle Obama might actually be First Lady.

Well, per my comments on various blogs that are listed on my blogroll such as Averagebro and theRoot and my all-time favorite The Black Snob (who effectively introduced me to the black blogosphere as I know it! :-)) I’ve been in a weird place as far as how I feel about race relations in this country. I mean, the clip of this irate woman from Manhattan at the Democratic Party credentials committee meeting earlier this week kind of told the story for me that yet again, we have a long way to go. But, it just seems that I’ve been saying the same thing in my blogs for a while, and then something else happens that just totally adds fuel to the fire.

A few people say I flip-flop as far as my position; usually my blogs amount to thesis, antithesis and then synthesis for those who are wondering. But it appears that my synthesis is usually a voice crying out in the wilderness. There are those out there, don’t get me wrong, that generally call for a more balanced and INTELLECTUAL dissection of all things racial, political and religious.

All of that being said, aside from the small, but very real fear of an assasination (yes, I’m serious about that), I’m just TOTALLY baffled by our political system. The following issues I have I do hope to flesh out into following blogs that will ensue for the rest of the week.

Seriously, I have grown a bit apathetic about race relations in our country as a result of of recent events centered around this race. Barack Obama was right about folks being “bitter.” Perhaps he was wrong about who was bitter and perhaps what they were bitter about, but when I watch people like Harriet Christian in the clip above, hell, Fr. Michael Pfleger was pretty close to being dead-on about Hillary Clinton having this sense of entitlement. You’d be very hard pressed to tell me that Miss Christian, who I actually feel sorry for, because I wish she’d just let go of whatever it is that’s she’s dealing with, wasn’t bitter about what was happening to her candidate.

And then I went on The Root today and the one main article “The Return of Real White People” and I couldn’t agree with DeWitt’s article more, that it’s the same incident’s such as the picture of the Rebel flag with the adage “Don’t Forget Your Roots” flying behind it at the Darlington International Speedway in May of last year that make a Rev. Jeremiah Wright sound less and less crazy to the wider public.

I haven’t figured out yet how black people have turned so RABIDLY against Hillary Clinton. I guess you can call me a Clinton apologist, who supports Obama. I don’t know if it was because I just chalked ALL of her comments about “real white” voters when campaigning in Kentucky and West Virginia to just politics or was it the fact that Obama’s luster dulled quite a bit for me after he distanced himself not just from Rev. Wright, but more importantly the major and earth-shattering racial issues that Rev. Wright had brought up in the short three days surrounding his PBS interview, his NAACP and National Press Club appearance. I mean, I’ve seen my fellow bloggers get NAKED on their feelings about Sis. Clinton.

If you have any names for Hillary you’d like to add, feel free to post in the comments section!!!

I’d also like to explore this whole thing about sexism versus that of racism. We need to remember that historically white women were not for the uniting of the races over that of themselves. Just ask Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was no secret that her and Frederick Douglass parted ways over that issue. I will be among the last to say that Hillary got a fair shake, despite her being a woman, simply because I can identify with being a minority in a majority situation. However, those using the argument that reporters are referring to her as Hillary over that of “Senator Obama” or deferring to his last name over that of Hillary are barking up the wrong tree. She herself uses (or is it used now, last I heard she’s still campaigning, go figure) campaign signs that say “Hillary.”

Finally I’d like to see what’s up with the fact that Obama can’t win these primaries and these swing states. Granted he played the nominating game which was really about delegate counts and personally, I believe he won fair and square.

[And I’m going to take this moment to go down a rabbit-hole and say that Florida and Michigan DID NOT follow the rules and by seating those delegates negated the fact the 48 other states plus the other territories followed the rules. And yes, Clinton somewhat showed her Queen of Darkness powers through Harrold Ickes by threatening to challenge the credentials committee at the convention in Denver. I mean, hell, she agreed back in January when she seemed entitled and favored and poised to win this whole thing that Michigan and Florida should NOT count. Oh, but once her dream slipped away (just imagine the Fr. Pfleger demonstration) she started hollering and pueling like a little baby. Anyway, off that soapbox, back to our regularly scheduled programming.]

I’m not sure if it was the Rev. Wright factor which came up interestingly around the time of the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries and what seemed like a pretty decent primary season SUDDENLY turned bad for both candidates. Or was it the fact that Obama, for whatever shortcomings of his, is un-electable on the mere basis that he just can’t connect with them. Or, is the disconnectedness really a result of race….who knows.

Since, I missed this historic night, I’m watching Obama’s speech as I type this on FoxNews (yes the enemy, but they are the only one’s I’ve found replaying the whole speech and I am interested to hear with the turd Juan Williams has to say.)

But, as most of the black blogosphere has went into overdrive typing up their expectations and apprehensions for Bro. Obama, and their seething hatred for that which is called Clinton, first name Hillary, second name Bill; as the conservative blogosphere hammers out stories masking their own racial prejudices and using “history as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon…enemies to polarize” (wow, look at God, a direct quote from Obama mid-speech!!!!!) and perhaps as hospitals see a slight spike in heart attacks, strokes and other stress related symptoms in certain parts of Appalachia as those citizens learn of Obama’s presumptive nomination, I honestly do believe that this is in fact the Lord’s doing and it is most certainly precious in the Lord’s sight!

Make sure to leave possible names for Hillary Clinton so that I may add them to the list.

Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL

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6 thoughts on “The Night I Missed History”

I think the rabid anti-Hilary sentiments are actually a product of the desire to see someone in their image running the White House. And I think Hilary’s behavior, coupled with the media’s biased, unchecked favoritism toward Obama, spelled disaster for Black America’s reactions to the wife of America’s former “first black president.” Hilary made the mistake of lashing out at Obama while he remained calm. Her panic turned to outlandish statements, which caused her to alienate Blacks.

The point is: Barack Obama has won over both Whites and Blacks enough to secure the democratic nomination, where as Hilary was unable to run the campaign she needed to defeat the powerhouse of marketing Obama represents– he is the demagogue of demagogues.

It was RITA verses the Black Power Ranger, and Zordon’s warrior took it.

I echo the comment above me, Hillary’s panic + Barack’s quiet storm + the media’s unchecked bias, are what gave us the mess that we’ve been watching for the pass year

I wasn’t really into politics until this entire Obama/Clinton fiasco, and the craziness of it all hooked me, I dunno if you saw my blog on it, but the allure of this circus almost felt like a sitcom or a reality tv show how nuts it had gotten. With half of the people saying Barack only got there because he’s black, and the other half saying Hillary only had a shot because of the historical nature of her being a woman AND Bill’s wife (imagine if a woman senator whose last name wasn’t Clinton ran), I say they both had equal shots, and they fought hard, and Obama won. I can’t even say the better person won, because, their stances on damn near everything were so simliar that it really came down to who do you like and identify with more as a person. And with Hillary’s character slowly depleting as she showed she would do ANYTHING to secure that nomination…becoming the Monica Lewinsky to Uncle Sam’s Bill…I, and obviously the rest of the country couldn’t help but become enamored by Barack’s seemingly authentic character and ideal nature. My only worry is can he live up to the hype? Can he secure the Presidency? the KKK isn’t dead, the”real” white people are planning on siding with Mccain just because of this fear, will this be too much for our black superhero?

And with Hillary attempting to bully her way into the Vice Presidential ticket, what’s going to happen if Barack says no?
Last night was history, and definitely a night of inspiration, but he hasn’t won yet, and I’m wondering when that reality is going to sink in for everyone else

I had the tendency to chalk up Clinton’s behavior to politics as well. She usually came off more desperate to me than anything else. He really came out of nowhere for her and she had no comeback. It was like she had this huge blind spot and didn’t see Obama until he passed her by.

And the press did enjoy playing up the race angle which nicely melded with their Clinton Crack obsession. Plus, Bill was far more defensive of Hillary than he ever was of himself. I don’t get their marriage, but I’m going to conclude that seeing his wife run and get beat up screwed with his judgment. He’s been all kinds of off his “A” game.

My new concern is both McCain and Obama have been “media darlings.” I wonder which one the press will pick to pump or dump now that they don’t have the Clintons to kick around anymore.

Oh, and I’m flattered that I helped you meet the rest of the black blog universe. 🙂

According to CNN Clinton will officially drop out later on this week, and then and only then will Obama be the presumptive nominee. You’re right, per Lanny Davis and Harrold Ickes her lead campaigners, they plan to pull a Fannie Lou Hamer and go to the credentials committee and raise hell.

To Black Snob:

Most real pundits were saying that even Bill Clinton would have had a hard time going against a Barack Obama. You have a Clinton who knows how to play the game well, but Obama isn’t saying I know how to play it better, but rather that he has this “change” that makes even the Clinton’s look retrogressive.

let’s rewind to Summer 2007…
wasn’t she the presumptive front runner for the nomination?

I don’t think the change in her status can only be tossed up to misogyny and sexism of voters and the media. There was something off about her campaign team’s approach that ignored strategy and public mood which also impacted where she is today. They ran her campaign as if she were no different than other privileged candidates for the White House…yes they ran the campaign as if she were a white man.

This choice cannot be blamed on Nixonia having ovaries.

And finally was it sexist of James Carville to intimate that Hillary had balls where Obama had none?

[www.huffingtonpost.com]
I know Carville’s
the entertaining one of the pundit class but it just seems odd and convenient that people get to pick and choose when to be offended by certain sexist images and/or language?

Because, to me, Carville intimating that Nixonia’s got balls like a real man
and if sexism and misogyny is something that brought down her historic campaign, why is it okay to use such imagery to convey her supposed power and/or superiority to Obama?

To me, they exploited racism and sexism when it suited their purposes.